Red Dead Redemption 2's Sluggish Feel May Be Down To Input Lag

Red Dead Redemption 2 has obviously taken the critical and commercial world by storm, but it's not a perfect game. There have been plenty of complaints on the theme of "the controls", and a new video from industry expert Dan Lowe may explain the problem.

EA Motive's Dan Lowe is a senior technical animator, and his previous deep dive into The Last of Us 2's E3 trailer was revealing. This time, Lowe is analysing the common complaint that Red Dead Redemption 2 feels awkward to control, laggy or unresponsive. Comparing the game's input response in third person to a number of other games, Lowe found that the western epic has a particularly slow input lag even in comparison to very recent third-person adventures Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Spider-Man.

The video has been doing the rounds on ResetEra, where contributor ZServ produced a handy and damning chart:

Obviously Red Dead is a behemoth even compared to those recent third-person games, and a certain amount of lag can be expected. There's also a whole bunch of reasons why those controls might feel a little awkward beyond simply the input lag. However as someone who has frequently pointed a rifle at a lawman while trying to focus on my horse, I suspect that the lag isn't exactly helping me stay bounty-free.

Sam has been gaming long enough to know the pain of a failed DOS install on the fifth floppy disc. When not hopelessly lost in the latest open-world epic, Sam is busy devouring books of all genres or trading Pokémon with his wife.

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